page_title: James H. Douglas Jr.
section_title: Secretary of the Air Force
hierarchical_section_title: James H. Douglas Jr. / Secretary of the Air Force
caption_attribution_description: English: General Curtis LeMay greeted by Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas and Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General Nathan F. Twining at Washington National Airport, upon LeMay's return from Boeing KC-135 non-stop flight from Buenos Aires, Argentine.
context_page_description: James Henderson Douglas Jr. was a lawyer and senior-level official in the United States Government. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, serving under both President Herbert Hoover and President Franklin Roosevelt. During the Eisenhower Administration, he served in the United States Department of Defense as Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
context_section_description: In May 1957, President Eisenhower appointed him as the fifth Secretary of the Air Force. He was the first Secretary of the Air Force to have previously served as a military air service officer. As Secretary of the Air Force, Douglas helped establish the United States Air Force Academy. He authorized the Air Force Commendation Medal to replace the Army version of the award. Douglas advised the President regarding a course of action in response to The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I in October 1957. He also reaffirmed the 1925 court-martial verdict against air power advocate Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. He said the court was correct to have been found Mitchell guilty of publicly attacking his superiors, but noted that time had proved Mitchell was right about the unique value of air power.
  During his tenured as Secretary of The Air Force, Douglas also strengthen the force of The Strategic Air Command (SAC) as its main role as United States primary Nuclear Deterrence. As a result several of The Air Force bases are being transferred into Strategic Air Command's jurisdiction such as Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Indiana (later known as Grissom Air Force Base) and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Under the direction of Secretary Douglas, SAC also relocated its headquarters in Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska from A Building to Building 500 (Now known as General Curtis E. LeMay Building) and received additional construction to modified its main command and control center, including SAC's underground command bunker. SAC also received additional fund to construct a new Post-Attack Command and Control System Facility, also known as The Notch in Hadley, Massachusetts and new Communications Annex Facility at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts.  
  In 1956 SAC received its new high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft Martin RB-57D Canberra and in 1957 as part of The New Look massive retaliation program, Secretary Douglas ordered SAC's fleet of RB-57D to be relocated into Rhein-Main Air Force Base in West Germany in order to conduct reconnaissance missions within The Soviet Union Satellite Nations. During Douglas tenured as Secretary of The Air Force, SAC's also received a new Strategic Bomber Aircraft the Convair B-58 Hustler, the first Strategic Bomber Aircraft with a capability to fly into Mach 2 speed and also a new Tanker Aircraft the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker to replace KC-97 Stratofreighter. Additionally the Air Force also received several new Fighter Aircraft such as the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II during Douglas tenured as Secretary of The Air Force. 
  In April 1959, the secretary of the air force issued implementing instructions to USAF to deploy two Jupiter squadrons to Italy. The two squadrons, totaling 30 missiles, were deployed at 10 sites in Italy from 1961 to 1963.  In October 1959, the location of the third and final Jupiter MRBM squadron was settled when a government-to-government agreement was signed with Turkey. The U.S. and Turkey concluded an agreement to deploy one Jupiter squadron on NATO's southern flank. The deployment of US nuclear armed missiles in Turkey triggered the Cuban Missile Crises. Douglas served as Secretary of the Air Force until the end of 1959.
  Douglas also emphasized about the importance role of the Air Force during the Second Indochina War which later became known as The Vietnam War. Douglas also suggested that strengthening the air power and the buildup of South Vietnam Air Force would eventually could help the South Vietnam pushback the North Vietnamese communist forces. In 1957 under Secretary Douglas direction, the Air Force send several of their airmen in-order act as advisory and to train the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) and the RVNAF also began received several new U.S. made aircraft such as the T-28A/B Trojan.
  On January 18, 1961, President Eisenhower presented Douglas with the Medal of Freedom for his distinguished service to the United States. The citation recognized Douglas fo
caption: Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas Jr. with Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General Nathan F. Twining greeted Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay at Washington National Airport in November 1957.
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